I don't mind at all Gwen - I hope it is helpful. I have also put together the letter for my coworkers at school. It's short but hopefully will get the point across.

Here it is:

As members of the education community in Ontario, we work everyday with students who have life-threatening food allergies. These students need the support of our whole school community (teachers, principals, custodians, support staff, educational assistants and parents) to stay safe while at school. We now need the support of the federal government to further protect allergic children. Please keep your government’s promise to Canadians on food labelling regulations.

With no known cure for anaphylaxis, avoidance of allergens is the only means of staying safe and preventing a fatal reaction. Accurate and understandable food labelling is necessary for people with food allergies and those who shop on their behalf. The current food labelling policy is not stringent enough to ensure accurate and clear descriptions of food ingredients on pre-packaged foods.

As time is running out on positive changes to food labelling regulations, we urge you
to approve the last version of the proposed amendments by the end of this year. These changes could save lives - the lives of our students.

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

I have received a response from the PM's office and I received a phone call from my local MP's office in Ottawa. The assistant I spoke to was confused as to which legislation I was writing about. He claims that there are several pieces of legislation regarding food labelling. He wanted to know the bill number or title. This is where I got somewhat confused. I explained that the legislation dealt with labelling top allergens in clear language. I went back to the emails we received regarding this issue and there is mention of regulations and legislation. Is it the "Proposed Amendments to Enhance the Labelling of Allergens, Gluten Sources and Added Sulphites" that we are talking about and these are ammendments to the Food and Drugs Act? I need some clarification. Does parliament have to vote on these regulations/legislation or has that happened yet? There was mention in the emails about publishing the regulations in Canada Gazette Part II. Does this happen after a vote of parliament? How long is the house sitting this fall? How short are our timelines?

So what exactly has to be done and who has to do it to make these regulations that effect?

I guess I need to go back and study the parliamentary process!! How much does one allergy mom have to learn?????? I have almost 50 letters ready to be sent from colleagues, friends and families.

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

I sent my letter to every link provided by Gwen and by Anaphylaxis Canada. I never mentioned any specific bill name or number. Here's the email I received back a couple days ago.

Quote:

On behalf of the Prime Minister, thank you for your correspondence regarding food allergen labelling. The Government of Canada fully appreciates that food safety is very important to Canadians, and is pleased to receive their suggestions and opinions on this issue.

You may be assured that your message has been carefully reviewed. As a copy of your message has already been sent to the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, I am certain that she will also appreciate being made aware of your views, and will give them every consideration.

I have taken the liberty of forwarding a further copy of your correspondence to the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, to whom your views will also be of interest.

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

I received the same response from the PM office, and a similarly worded one from our local MP.
HOwver, would be interested in the exact bill # etc, is there a website to source it and the follow up info? I, a little bit joined the bandwagon knowing that when I attended the AAIA conference in St Catherines 2 years ago it was big news then, and know how important it is, so I sent my letters.
However, would really like to know all I can.
Thanks!

There are other older stories on this topic on the site - we have been writing on this topic (and watching the regulations get delayed, and delayed again) since 2006. Try putting the word - labeling - in the search tool on any pages outside of the Forum. More stuff should come up.

FYI, I'm off to a conference for a few days - but then AL is going to get an online write-in petition form going. Some of you will remember that we did this in 2008 and had great participation. (About 4,000 people).

We thought we'd pushed the regs ahead with that effort. Well, we definitely helped to get the Health Minister's announcement that the regs would go ahead. But now they're stalled again

So time to don the advocacy capes again, super allergy supporters, starting next week with the petition campaign. Pls help me get the word out once it goes live!

The local newspaper got back to me finally and they are interested in writing a story about food allergies and how the food labelling changes would help our family. I suggested to the reporter that we meet at the grocery store and go shopping together so that she could experience first hand what it is like to shop for people with food allergies. We meet on Tuesday next week.

When I pitched the story to the newspaper I explained that the wider public beyond those living with allergies would be interested in the new regulations. Many people report to be intolerant to a growing number of foods and most people in general want to know what is in the foods that they are eating.
I will post the link when it is published. I'm a little nervous but looking forward to this great opportunity to get more attention to the issue.

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

I suggested to the reporter that we meet at the grocery store and go shopping together so that she could experience first hand what it is like to shop for people with food allergies

Katec that is an absolutely wonderful approach to the issue. An eye opener for anyone not dealing with allergies. A friend recently tried to buy safe food for our son for a little party she was having. She said that she only lived my life for one grocery store visit and gave up as it was just too frustrating.
I can't wait to read the article, be sure to post.

We did get the same reply from the PM's office, plus a response from our MP who drafted a letter to the health minister about this issue:

November 3, 2010

Hon. Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6

Dear Minister,

I am writing on behalf of my constituents, Mr xxxx and Mrs --- about the importance of allergen labeling on Canadian food. The --- family have two children with serious food allergies.

Your government has promised to bring in food allergen labeling, but so far has not delivered. Given the importance of this issue to so many Canadians, I urge you to act quickly to change food labeling regulations. This would give so many people, including the --- family peace of mind.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter, and I look forward to your reply.

Yesterday my daughter and I met with our local newspaper to discuss the labelling issue. The conversation went well. Of course we started with my daughter's story - diagnosis, reactions, entry to school, epipens etc. which took some time to tell but she was asking the questions. Then we were able to get to the labelling issue. It all went by so fast and afterward I started to wonder if I gave her enough about the problems we have with labelling. I sent her off with a few pages of info from Anaphylaxis Canada about statistics on allergy, the benefits of improved labelling and their news release this fall about the label campaign.

The reporter was very interested in all aspects of the story and seemed very empathetic to our concerns. When the article is published I will try to find a link to post.

Today I had a conference call with my local MP regarding the issue as well. His assistant finally found the regulations and changes regarding allergen labelling and the MP was well briefed on the issue. He said that it was his feeling after discussions with his fellow members that it would not be too long before the regulations were "gazetted" again. I told him that I appreciated his work on our behalf but let him know that we have been waiting a very long time already. I explained the implications of the changes on our daily life. He said that he was not aware of any deadline looming which would push the regulations back to square one. He asked me to write a follow up letter to him to ask the minister to push the regulations through ASAP. He promised to hand deliver the letter to the minister. So I have my homework for today.

Too bad I can't get paid for all of this work. Funny - in the interview yesterday the reporter asked when I began my lobby work. I don't consider myself a lobbyist but I told her that I took on the role of advocate when my daughter was diagnosed. It's a requirement of the diagnosis!

Has anyone else heard anything about the progress of things? Any feedback from MP's? Is there momentum to our campaign?

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

It's official. Allergic Living has launched a new write-in campaign to urge the Canadian government to pass the vital and long-delayed new food label regulations. To make this happen, we need lots of support, many voices.

Please send your own letter here: http://www.allergicliving.com/petitions/food-labelling/.
Ask your relatives, friends, colleagues, to kindly take part, too. (In fact, to make that request super easy, the "thank you" panel gives you an option to send out up to five e-mails asking for support.)

This campaign is supported by Anaphylaxis Canada, and we hope to get other organizations on-board shortly, too.

Thanks so much for your support for this essential legislation for the millions who live with food allergies and celiac disease.

Let's do everything we can to get this legislation off the backburner and INTO LAW!

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